OPINION:
The COVID-19 pandemic hysteria is changing nearly every institution in society at a rapid pace, not the least of which is law enforcement. Under the current flurry of executive orders suggesting (and in some cases mandating) social distancing, law-enforcement officers have been reduced to middle-school hall monitors (“In COVID-19 America, freedom is a privilege subject to government permission slips,” Web, April 29).
However, several sheriffs around the country have pushed back and reaffirmed their oaths to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution as well as their respective state’s constitution. Overreaching governors, such as Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, have implemented fines of up to $1000 for violating stay-at-home orders. Four county sheriffs in Michigan have declared that they will not enforce Whitmer’s edict. I applaud them. Public health is vitally important, but abuse of constitutional authority is a greater threat that may imperilmore lives in the long run.
Conscientious law-enforcement officials are on the front lines striving to ensure that policies put in place for our ’own good’ don’t stay in place after the threat of this pandemic has passed.
MICHAEL A. BERTOLONE
Former executive vice president
Monroe County Law Enforcement Association
Rochester, N.Y.
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